'John Carter,' aka the Edgar Rice Burroughs 'A Princess of Mars' adaptation

Loved these books as a kid so - yes - looking forward to it.

I liked the ERB Mars books as a kid, but to me it's all about the Frank Frazetta illustrations:

http://www.artistsuk.co.uk/acatalog/Princess_of_Mars_Frank_Frazetta.jpg

The title of the movie is terrible, but most titles that are just a person's name are terrible.

Have been half looking forward to it as a friend is working on the CGI, he was hoping for good things from Stanton's first live action picture. I don't see why the fact that the stories aren't well known should be a strike against it, but either way I'll reserve judgement till the reviews, trailers looked so-so but what can you really tell from a trailer eh.

spending $250 million on a century-old property w/ no contemporary life.... man oh man.

Nice nipples though.

haha really that much? huh

I don't see why the fact that the stories aren't well known should be a strike against it

it's partly that calling it 'john carter' is a strike against it in that case - like, unless you already mentally complete that "... of MARS!" that's totally meaningless to you

obv these budget $$$ are always hearsay (and inflated by rivals) but it doesn't look cheap.

At least they didn't call it Jack Carter; everyone wd've thought it was a bio of the old Vegas comedian.

havent read the original stories, but isnt john carter meant to be bloodthirsty, oversexed and immortal? this version seems highly genericized

not as of the first book, no

think Hungr4Ass is confusing John Carter with John Norman

lol

iirc a big part of the charm of the first book is Carter being this bizarre theosophist-Highlander figure who has a long and mysterious history as an immortal warrior on Earth prior to transmigrating to Mars during a fight with Apaches ... he narrates the batshit-insane events of A Princess of Mars in a mannerly, military-memoir style ERB imagines appropriate to such a figure. This stoic first-person voice is key to the book's hallucinatory effect. I like Chabon, but I don't see how any of this translates into a screenplay.

The book is on Gutenberg btw.

lol i remember literally none of that

They should have just called the movie "Carter."

"Carter: 3-D"

Get Carter of Mars

Mars, Attacked

Both "Mars" and "Attacked" are better names than "John Carter."

The Civil War (on Mars) (But At The Same Time, Pretty Much)

they really should have gotten Noah Wylie to star in this

you say that about every movie!!

yes, but they could have started another "Predator ship"-style fanboy debate with this between "A Princess of Mars" and "ER"

"John Carter, MD, of Mars."

John Carter the Unstoppable Mars Machine.

haha

How the fuck do you rename something "John Carter" that has the already-awesome name "Princess of Mars".

apparently the reasoning was that boys dont like princesses, so they made it john carter of mars. and girls dont like planets, so they made it just john carter

they wanted to avoid the taint of mars

Martian taint is true. The New Yorker article said it was because that Mars Needs Moms movie was such a bomb.

I saw the trailer yesterday and among all the problems I have the aliums all look like Phantom Menace/Jar-Jar animation and it's really, really skeeving me out.

Tim Riggins of Mars! Is what the movie should be called.

The title of the movie is terrible, but most titles that are just a person's name are terrible.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, February 16, 2012 8:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is otm, why did they take out the MARS part?? what are they thinking??

see the Mars Needs Moms tidbit.

Mars Needs Moms was shit because it was a piece of overmade garbage that took a perfectly good Berkeley Breathed story and made it into something stupid. The involvement of mars was the least of it's problems!! God studio execs are such MORONS (#955,000)

its

didn't realize people had such strong feelings about mars needs moms.

people = me

I just really liked that Berkeley Breathed book. :(

Mars Needs Vegemite

I should just stay on the IA thread...

( <3 Ned )

Martian taint is true. The New Yorker article said it was because that Mars Needs Moms movie was such a bomb.

― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 18 February 2012 04:16 (1 hour ago) Permalink

that's nuts. people really think an unrelated kid movie's flopping would affect this one?

I only know the books tangentially (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) but this looks GREAT.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm genuinely looking forward to this and thoroughly expect to enjoy it. I re-read Princess Of Mars the other day to prepare and damn, it's great.

Other than the alien animation, the rest of it does look pretty fantastic.

all i ever notice of the commercials for this are a sandy vista and a scruffy warrior guy, which makes me go "is this prince of persia? didn't that already come out?"

this should have been called JOHN CARTER PRINCESS OF MARS imho

JOHN CARTER OF MARS: A PRINCESS OF MARS: THE LEGEND OF JOHN CARTER (OF MARS)

PRINCESS JOHN CARTER OF MARS

JOHN CARTER: TURN OFF THE MARS

Y'ALL READY FOR MARS?

A MARS A DAY HELPS YOU WORK, REST AND SLAY

I quite enjoyed the film, but I don't think you can put its failure down to its quality. It was a "flop" and a joke because of it well before it was released. Besides how often does quality really stop people from seeing a movie in droves? at least on the opening weekend.

well yeah, it's bad and it's difficult to market

The quality of the film doesn't matter to the marketing. The problem is probably the look (silly CGI cartoony monsters, guy flying around with sword wearing a loincloth).

"The quality of the film doesn't matter to the marketing"

disagree! i think its probably harder to market something that sucks ass than it is something thats good

that said the marketing was really incredibly bad on this one - as detailed in the article andrew links above, which also indicates that stanton may shoulder a lot of the blame for it

As long as there are requisite elements (stuff blowing up, portentous looks, maybe a funny quip but that's not necessary), then you can throw together a trailer/ad spot. Marketing was particularly bad for this one, sure, but I don't think that has to do with the quality as much as it does the content.

I disagree about the quality of the film, but also I think that by the only yardstick that marketing cares about - will people go see it - it was a great film, the word of mouth despite the shitty campaign is what pulled it back into profit (not that any hollywood film is ever in profit etc etc)

wait what

what a terrible 'movie'

this was fucking shit

VG will have your scalp or something.

killfile

why is this still on my bookmarks??

It's from the books I suppose but the ending of this is pretty good, plot-wise.

In the DVD commentary they talk about it becoming a thing on the level of Superman or Bond. The pathos, I almost feel bad for the probably really quite rich people who were indulged in this folly.

Memmmmmories etc

https://www.thewrap.com/john-carter-movie-history-why-it-failed/

Ten years, crazy. Still half convinced that this not being a success is why Disney bought Lucasfilm later that year.

That's quite an in-depth article for... this movie. I think Collins not being sure which version of the princess to play is indicative of the major problem I found with the movie: characters were not well-defined at all

this movie killed the FNL dude's career, didn't it?

this movie killed the FNL dude's career, didn't it?

A combination of this and True Detective season 2. Both of which are better than people say.

It was based on a beloved and highly influential property

lol....beloved and influential to who exactly?

people who read & enjoyed it?

i'm questioning the characterization of the property as some kind of sure thing to bank a movie on. i had literally never heard of it until this came out despite existing in plenty of circles where sci-fi and fantasy fiction were regularly discussed for all of my teens and 20s.

i don't know how wide an audience they have in 2022 but burroughs's mars books are some of the most influential in SF, even if the influence tended to trickle down through other stuff -- bradbury, heinlein, flash gordon, star wars.

Cameron cited it as an inspiration for Avatar, and I don't doubt it inspired others. But yeah, it was certainly no bankable property ten years ago or now - too old, largely forgotten

yeah "this thing inspired this other thing that you like" is not really how IP attracts audiences

The Del Rey paperbacks were how I first heard about them, and they came out...late 70s I think?

i feel like princess of mars is sort of out of fashion, partially because Edgar Rice Burroughs is also out of fashion right now (lotta racist shit in the original Tarzan), but both properties were hugely popular in their time. I remember being kinda surprised when the movie came out, though, even having been aware of the books and having read a couple a long time ago. they were in print for a long time. probably still are.

in terms of influence... they are not the very first examples of what is now called "portal fantasy", but they are early, predating the chronicles of Narnia by decades. there's definitely plenty of writing in this genre, and the idea has been used over and over again from alice in wonderland (pre-princess of mars) to stargate: atlantis to whatever.

my reaction to this coming out was kind of like... this is a movie for old men who listen to old time radio dramas and collect Amazing Stories and Weird Tales from before the 2nd world war.

still never seen it.

i still think it was a much better movie than conventional wisdom acts like it was

I'd agree, pretty much stand by everything upthread. It ain't perfect but it's often really entertaining.

Reread the first three Mars books after seeing the movie (great in IMAX), and thought the movie did a great job of capturing the spirit while tightening the plot. Besides the Star Wars prequels, was the first movie I've seen people actively dogpile on to hate, without having seen it. At least, it was the first movie I was invested in seeing, so disheartening watching it shredded. Would have appreciated a second movie.

As a kid, also loved the Green Star books by Lin Carter, which is a straight rip of the concept.

(lotta racist shit in the original Tarzan),

― ian, Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:46 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Surely the whole concept of the white aristocratic lord of the jungle is inherently racist from the get-go.
Quite apart from the depiction of the natives outside of that.